1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to protective films and, more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to protective films for releaseably covering at least a portion of an object.
2. Background Art
Protective coverings for objects such as keyboards and display devices have been known in the art for years, and are the subject of numerous patents, including: U.S. Pat. No. 5,096,317 entitled “Computer Key Cover Apparatus,” U.S. Pat. No. 5,934,813 entitled “Keyboard Protector Having Peaked Configuration,” and United States Patent Application Publication Number 2003/0002909 entitled “Protective Keyboard Cover”—all of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entirety including the references cited therein.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,096,317 appears to disclose a cover apparatus including a transparent housing overlying a computer keyboard, wherein the cover apparatus includes a plurality of forward and rear side walls defining rows of openings, wherein each row of openings is arranged overlying rows of computer keys. The openings are provided with cover housings to selectively cover individual or the plurality of keys, wherein each of the plurality of keys of the computer keyboard is positioned within the openings to provide selective covering thereof to minimize inadvertent pressing of such keys in usage of the keyboard.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,934,813 appears to disclose a protective cover structure specifically designed to overlie and at least partially cover a keyboard of a computer which includes an overlying top portion having a nonplaner configuration. A front face of the cover structure has an open construction or configuration of sufficient dimension to allow the user's hands clear access to the keyboard for manipulation thereof during normal operation of the computer. The protective structure is at least partially formed from transparent material to allow viewing of the keyboard as well as the hands of the user when the subject assembly is in its protective, overlying position.
United States Patent Application Publication Number 2003/0002909 appears to disclose a shield for protecting a keyboard assembly which includes a one-piece resiliently flexible membrane having a generally planar base overlaying a deck portion of the keyboard assembly, and one or more raised bubbles formed in the membrane and configured to envelope an entire key array or separate or combined key clusters of the keyboard assembly. In a particularly preferred form, a raised bubble enveloping an alpha-numeric and format/command key cluster includes grooves configured to surround and form-fit only alphabetical, numeric, punctuation and symbol keys of the cluster.
While the above-identified patents and publication do appear to provide protective apparatuses and/or coverings for objects, their configurations remain non-desirous and/or problematic inasmuch as, among other things, none of the above-identified apparatuses appear to disclose an elastomeric protective film for releasable association with an object—among other things. Furthermore, none of the above-identified apparatuses appear to incorporate anti-microbial, anti-bacterial, and/or anti-viral compounds, preserve tactile sensation of the underlying object, provide visual indicators of time in use, and/or are provided to adhere to substantially vertical surfaces.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a protective film, which, among other things, remedies the aforementioned detriments and/or complications associated with the use of the above-identified, conventional protective apparatuses and/or coverings.
These and other objects of the present invention will become apparent in light of the present specification and drawings.